Posted on 06/13/2016 1:42:08 PM PDT by Lorianne
As the United States braces for an especially bloody summer fighting season in Afghanistan, President Obama inched closer this week to allowing American forces to once again directly battle the Taliban, loosening restrictions on airstrikes and on ground combat in support of Afghan forces, the administration said on Friday.
The president’s decision to expand the military’s mission just seven months before he leaves office signaled just how far the United States remains from achieving his goal of ending the American military role in Afghanistan.
Under the new rules, airstrikes will no longer have to be justified as necessary to defend American troops. United States commanders will now be allowed to use air power against the Taliban when they see fit, Pentagon and administration officials said. American forces will also be permitted to accompany regular Afghan troops into combat against the Taliban.
The guidelines reflect what has been apparent for months: American troops, primarily Special Operations forces, have continued to actively fight the Taliban since the declared end of the American combat mission in 2014.
The fight against the Taliban was intended to be left to Afghan forces, not Americans, who were supposed to strike the insurgents only if under direct threat.
But in the 18 months since, the administration has allowed the self-defense rationale to be stretched to its limits. Self-defense was used last month as the legal basis for the airstrike that killed the leader of the Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, while he traveled in Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan.
The American officials insisted that the new rules would not pull United States troops back into the kind of daily fighting that they saw before the end of the combat mission in 2014.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Too bad 50 more people had to die to get a little progress.
This is from before the Orlando attack.
What is the critical US security concern that has aroused Obama to sacrifice more American lives and treasure in what is essentially an Afghan civil war?
Stuck on stupid
Oh good. Do they get to use ammo now? Or still stuck with simple protest signs?
Sure.....riiiight. I will believe obama lets our troops attack Taliban as much as I believe Hillary Clinton.
Obama is cooked. So is Hillary. The polling for them is a “fix”.
Obama is trying to save himself. TRUMP has exposed them all.
Exactly
“Oh good. Do they get to use ammo now?”.....
ONLY if fired upon first.
Was this one of the two wars he ended? I’ve lost track.
Legacy saving time!
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